Making Room

Making Room is a biweekly opinion column. The views expressed are solely the author’s.

This is my last column. Over the past two years, I’ve had the privilege of sharing my views about housing with you. I don’t know if I changed anyone’s mind, but I do know I stirred up some conversation (and plenty of clicks for ARLnow). I hope ‘Making Room’ has at least inspired you to reflect on what Arlington means to you and the role that secure housing plays in your life.

The worst thing about working from home is being subjected to the near-daily onslaught of gas-powered leaf blowers.

The region is waking up to these noxious machines. The Arlington County Board took an important step on Tuesday, Nov. 16, when it appropriated funds from the American Rescue Plan Act to replace gas-powered landscape equipment with other options.

The Site Plan Review Committee begins today for the redevelopment of The Marbella. This project is a fantastic opportunity to bring much needed affordable housing to the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor.

This site plan is an excellent example of using the new zoning tools that allow additional height for 100% affordable projects, resulting in close to 500 net-new units. This project will serve not only the residents of the property, but the entire community. Ideally, the Site Plan Review process will find the best way to fit these new buildings into the neighborhood, while maximizing the opportunity to welcome low-income families into one of Arlington’s high- opportunity neighborhoods.

Making Room is a biweekly opinion column. The views expressed are solely the author’s.

From flash floods in Arlington to wildfires on the West Coast, climate change is an increasing threat to life and property. This is not a future problem, but a current crisis. We have only a few years to reverse human-made emissions.

In the Spring of 2018, I had the great fortune to participate in Arlington Neighborhood College. This county program brings together a group of residents who want to be more involved in the County’s civic life.

Over the course of eight weeks, we were introduced to a diverse range of Arlington County staff and elected officials, as well as the leaders of some of Arlington’s central public-facing institutions.

The following was written by guest columnist Alex Pilkington.

According to the most recent census bureau data, Arlington County is home to nearly 230,000 residents. Over 10 percent of these residents are disenfranchised from participating in deciding how our community should be governed. Although they call Arlington home, they have not yet acquired citizenship.

I am becoming a kindergarten parent this year and so I’m officially joining the Arlington Public Schools community. During the past 18 months, I’ve watched with sympathy as kids were kept out of school.

Arlington’s public schools were closed, or in a hybrid model, because elected leaders didn’t prioritize the mitigation strategies in our community that would have allowed safe in-classroom instruction. I was lucky to have my kids in full-time daycare for most of the pandemic. We were never exposed to Covid-19 from the center, despite limited mitigation practices.

Making Room is a biweekly opinion column. The views expressed are solely the author’s. 

The following was written by guest columnist Thomas Bingham.

Every year, Arlington loses market-rate affordable housing (MARKs) as redevelopment and reinvestment turns older, lower-cost apartments into newer, higher-cost apartments.

We also lose committed affordable housing (CAFs) when the income and rental restrictions on properties built with public funds expire, typically after 30-60 years.